Dataset Information

Low Levels of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate in Younger Burnout Patients.

ABSTRACT: Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-s) is an anabolic protective hormone of importance for maintenance of health. DHEA-s levels peak in young adults and decline thereafter with age. DHEA-s has previously been shown to be lower in individuals reporting prolonged stress. This study investigates DHEA-s levels in patients with clinical burnout, a disorder caused by long-term psychosocial stress.122 patients (51% men) and 47 controls (51% men) in the age 25-54 years were included in the study. DHEA-s levels were compared between patients and controls in the whole sample and within each of the three 10-year-interval age groups.In the youngest age group (25-34 years), DHEA-s levels were on average 25% lower in the patients (p = 0.006). The differences in DHEA-s levels between patients and controls were more pronounced among female than male participants (on average 32% and 13% lower, respectively). There were no differences in DHEA-s levels between patients and controls in the age group 35-44 years (p = 0.927) or 45-54 years (p = 0.897) or when analyzing all age groups together (p = 0.187).The study indicates that levels of the health promoting "youth" hormone DHEA-s are low in younger burnout patients. The fact that younger adults have much higher DHEA-s levels and more pronounced inter-subject variability in DHEA-s levels than older individuals might explain why burnout status differentiates patients from controls only among the youngest patients included in this study.

SUBMITTER: Lennartsson AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4595129 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Low Levels of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate in Younger Burnout Patients.

Lennartsson Anna-Karin AK Theorell Töres T Kushnir Mark M MM Jonsdottir Ingibjörg H IH

PloS one 20151006 10

<h4>Objective</h4>Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-s) is an anabolic protective hormone of importance for maintenance of health. DHEA-s levels peak in young adults and decline thereafter with age. DHEA-s has previously been shown to be lower in individuals reporting prolonged stress. This study investigates DHEA-s levels in patients with clinical burnout, a disorder caused by long-term psychosocial stress.<h4>Methods</h4>122 patients (51% men) and 47 controls (51% men) in the age 25-54 year ...[more]

PMID: 26441131

Similar Datasets

Project description:Cirrhotic patients are susceptible to sepsis and critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency (CIRCI). Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) is a corticotropin-dependent adrenal androgen, which has immunostimulating and antiglucocorticoid effects. Considering the synchronized synthesis of cortisol and DHEAS and their opposing effects to each other, investigators have proposed measuring these two hormones as a ratio. Severe sepsis has been associated with low DHEAS, especially relative to high cortisol. Despite growing interest in the role of adrenal androgen replacement in critical illness, there have been no data about DHEAS and the DHEAS/cortisol ratio in patients with liver cirrhosis. We studied whether low concentrations of DHEAS and decreased DHEAS/cortisol ratio are associated with poor outcome in patients with liver cirrhosis and septic shock.We recruited 46 cirrhotic patients with septic shock, and 46 noncirrhotic counterparts matched by age and sex. We evaluated adrenal function using the short corticotropin stimulation test and analyzed the relation between DHEAS and cortisol.While the nonsurvivors in the cirrhotic group had significantly lower baseline DHEAS, lower baseline DHEAS/cortisol ratio, and reduced increments of both DHEAS and cortisol upon corticotropin stimulation, the survivors had lower baseline cortisol. Cirrhotic patients with lower DHEAS/cortisol ratio (<1.50) had higher levels of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores, and higher rates of CIRCI and hospital mortality. Using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve, both DHEAS and the DHEAS/cortisol ratio demonstrated a good discriminative power for predicting hospital survival (AUROC 0.807 and 0.925 respectively). The cirrhotic group had lower DHEAS and DHEAS/cortisol ratio but higher rates of CIRCI and hospital mortality, compared to the noncirrhotic group.There is dissociation between cortisol (increased) and DHEAS (decreased) in those cirrhotic patients who succumb to septic shock. Low DHEAS/cortisol ratios are associated with more severe diseases, inflammation, and CIRCI and can serve as a prognostic marker. More investigations are needed to evaluate the role of adrenal androgen in this clinical setting.

Project description:For poor sleep quality (SQ) as well as major depressive disorder (MDD) and burnout, a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been identified. Although poor SQ is often reported as an early symptom of MDD or burnout, it is not clear whether HPA axis-related hormones can influence the association between SQ and MDD or burnout. This manuscript addresses this question by examining HPA axis-related hormones as potential moderators influencing the association between SQ and MDD or burnout. In the fourth annual examination wave of the Dresden Burnout Study, we measured general SQ (including sleep duration and efficiency), depressive and burnout symptoms, and obtained hair samples for quantification of long-term integrated steroid concentrations (cortisol [hC], cortisone [hCn], dehydroepiandrosterone [hDHEA]) from 462 participants (67% female). Data on SQ, depressive and burnout symptoms were available from 342 participants from the preceding examination wave (average time span between examinations 13.2 months). Cross-sectional analyses showed that the negative association between sleep duration and depressive symptoms was buffered by higher levels of hC, and hCn, whereas the negative association between sleep duration and burnout symptoms was buffered by higher levels of hDHEA. The negative association between sleep efficiency and burnout symptoms was intensified by higher levels of hC and hC/hCn ratio and the negative association between general SQ and burnout symptoms was intensified by higher levels of hC/hCn ratio. With regard to longitudinal data, a significant interaction effect between sleep duration and hC/hCn ratio could be detected for burnout symptoms. Our results suggest opposed moderation effects of hair glucocorticoids on the association between SQ and depressive or burnout symptoms. This points toward opposed glucocorticoid receptor functioning in depression and burnout. To fully elucidate the negative consequences of poor SQ on MDD and burnout, the complex underlying mechanisms of action including HPA axis-related hormones need to be investigated in MDD and burnout separately.

Dataset Information

Low Levels of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate in Younger Burnout Patients.

Publications

Low Levels of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate in Younger Burnout Patients.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure